Work Rights a Big Issue in This Election

DomPost column
Helen Kelly, CTU president
Monday November 3

Work Rights a Big Issue in This Election

It would be ignoring the elephant in the room for this column not to talk at this time about the issues for workers in this election.  Given the current economic turmoil, the task of choosing our next Government becomes even more important. 

Electing a Government that will protect workers and opportunities for work during this period is now being identified by our members as the key election issue.   The quality of life for most New Zealanders depends on our ability to earn a living for us and our families. 

As Governments around the world scramble to shore up private banks and private companies, their response to the equally drastic impact the collapse is having on workers is disappointing to say the least.   

I watched with despair a recent documentary programme that highlighted the response to the growing homeless problem in the US as unemployment grows.  Governments there are opening up carparks so that families forced to live in cars are able to park them in a safe place. 

In New Zealand we have already seen workers impacted – for instance in the service sector; retail and hospitality unions are already dealing with this.  These workers are losing jobs in which they were on wages close to the minimum. 

The financial implications of losing work are immediate and these workers do not have savings to fall back on.  Wages stop abruptly.  Rent, food costs, credit card debts etc carry on relentlessly.   Many of these workers are not given notice and have no redundancy provisions. 

This then brings us back to the election.  Workers know what National’s reputation is when it comes to work rights. After all in the 1990s we saw the minimum wage frozen and the despised Employment Contracts Act, which cut penal rates and other conditions and undermined union rights.

Now National claim they have changed their spots and want workers to trust them on this.   But when we look at the policies of the two parties it is clear National hasn’t changed. 

Labour has announced policy initiatives that provide both short term ideas to keep the economy going and support those that will lose their job, including the job search and retraining allowances, minimum redundancy payments and notice and the reduction of job insecurity by reducing the use of non-genuine casual employment.

They have also posted a longer term view of workplaces where those that want to be part of a union and collectively bargain will face far less hurdles than currently faced. 

National on the other hand have a policy to reduce union collective bargaining and increase hurdles to union membership, including requiring workers to get the employers permission for the union to visit the workplace, and at the same time would reduce worker security by cutting the rights to fair treatment in the first 90 days at work with a new employer, in workplaces of less than 20 employees. 

While John Key has also announced a support package for some workers that lose their jobs, this seems rather shallow when at the same time he is proposing reducing work rights for those very same workers who will move to new employment with a 90 day rights-free period. 

The big question is if those workers are then unfairly dismissed – will the package be reinstated?  If not, big risks might flow from taking such a job. 

Alongside the day to day issues of wages and work rights, workers are considering other employment-related benefits.   Accident Compensation is a big issue.

Workers don’t want ACC privatised. Indeed apart from insurance companies it is hard to find anyone that supports this policy.

With huge American insurance companies on the brink of collapse the policy appears even more ludicrous.  Thousands of Australian workers have income protection insurance with AIG and are nervously watching it teeter. 

Kiwisaver is another benefit of employment – employer contributions make a big difference to savings.  National’s cuts to KiwiSaver would dramatically reduce saving totals. 

Recent figures show 80% of Kiwisavers earn less than $50,000, and that those earning between $20,000 and $30,000 are over represented amongst the savers.  This group is also the group that will pay more tax under the National tax policy. 

Finally there is National’s privatisation agenda including its ugly sister –cutting public services.    From the sale and lease back of school buildings to the tolling of private roads, workers would be affected.

For workers, privatisation and cuts means the unavailability of services they rely on and that they want to be equitably available and of a high standard.  The problem with public services is that often the value of these services is not easy to measure in dollars and cents.  It is unfortunately easiest to see this value when gaps in services appear.

So unions have done all they can to make sure workers are informed about this election.  We will be doing all we can this Saturday to make sure workers vote for a future that protects and enhances worker rights.